Charles A. Asbury – 4 Banjo Songs, 1891-1897

Posted on August 2, 2018 by aaamc

Artist: Charles A. Asbury

Format: 45 rpm disc

Release date: May 4, 2018

Illinois-based Archeophone Records, a company specializing in acoustic-era reissues, has a long history of uncovering and releasing fascinating recordings from bygone eras.[i] In 2007 they received a Grammy Award for Best Historical Album for the 2-CD set, Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1891-1922, a companion to the groundbreaking book of the same title by noted discographer and recording industry historian Tim Brooks. One of the musicians listed in the book was Charles A. Asbury (born ca. 1956, d.1903). Though referred to variously in the 1890s as “the popular colored banjoist” and performer of songs in the “negro style,” at least one reviewer mentioned Asbury as the only white member of an African American troupe. This conflicting evidence led Brooks to assume Asbury had been “misidentified as Black.” New research, however, reveals a more complex and fascinating story—while the discovery of extant copies of Ashbury’s earliest recordings likewise expands our knowledge of early banjo traditions.

In a diligent search through archival records that would impress any genealogist, Archeophone’s Richard Martin slowly unraveled the story of Charles A. Asbury with assistance from Asbury’s heirs. Born in Florida and raised in Augusta, Georgia during the Reconstruction era by his adoptive “mulatto” parents, Asbury joined a prominent traveling theater troupe, performing the role of Sambo in one of the many minstrel adaptations of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (apparently the George L. Aiken version). From there he can be traced to an all-black ensemble featuring his first wife, Annie Asbury, plugged as “the great shout singer.” In the liner notes, authors Richard Martin and Ted Olsen surmise that Asbury may have learned the banjo, or at least studied the technique of Horace Weston, “the internationally famous African American banjo virtuoso,” who was one of the biggest stars in Annie’s troupe. Whatever the case may be, Asbury toured with various Black jubilee ensembles throughout the South, further honing both his banjo and singing skills, and growing his reputation as an artist.

Now, for the recorded evidence. From 1891-1897, Asbury’s songs with banjo accompaniment were captured on wax by the New Jersey Phonograph Company in Newark—likely the oldest extant recordings of this genre by an African American artist. These wax cylinders are extremely rare, and thus far the only Asbury recordings known to survive are those featured on 4 Banjo Songs (he recorded many more). “Haul the Woodpile Down” was first made available via University of California Santa Barbara’s Cylinder Audio Archive website. The other three cylinder tracks are publicly available for the very first time on this set. Most of these songs—the popular “Haul the Woodpile Down,” “Never Done Anything Since” and “A New Coon in Town”—bear the hallmarks of the minstrel banjo tradition and early “coon songs,” while the fourth and earliest, “Keep in de Middle ob de Road” (1891), is a seldom recorded semi-religious jubilee hymn. What sets these apart from other minstrel tunes is Asbury’s “remarkably fluid, rhythmically complex” five-string banjo technique. With the assistance of experts in online banjo discussion groups, Martin was able to learn more about Asbury’s unique “stroke style” of playing, which is detailed at length in the liner notes. Because the stroke style was seldom used or recorded after 1900, these four Asbury cylinders are historically significant, documenting a 19^th century performance practice that sheds further light on the African American banjo tradition.

The cylinder transfers were carried out by John Levin, developer of the CPS1 Cylinder Playback Machine. Now used by a number of institutions, the machine yields astonishing results, rendering Asbury’s performances in the best possible sonic resolution, with additional restoration from Martin. The accompanying 16 page illustrated booklet provides further insight on Asbury’s life and music, with notes on each track plus endnotes and technical notes. Lyrics are printed on the sleeve of the 7-inch 45-rpm disc. 4 Banjo Songs is a first-rate package, well-worth the $16.99 list price for this significant piece of musical history. Please note: the limited run of 1000 copies will likely disappear quickly.

For further reading on Asbury and 4 Banjo Songs, there’s Geoff Edgers’ article and podcast in The Washington Post, plus related blogs posts on the Archeophone site.

Reviewed by Brenda Nelson-Strauss

[i] Archeophone Records releases previously reviewed in Black Grooves include There Breathes a Hope: The Legacy of John Work II and His Fisk Jubilee Quartet, 1909-1916 (2010); Cabaret Echoes: New Orleans Jazzers at Work, 1918-1927 (2010); and “Ain’t Gonna Settle Down”: The Pioneering Blues of Mary Strafford and Edith Wilson (2008).

Ginger Johnson and His African Messengers – African Party

Posted on September 2, 2015 by aaamc

Title: African Party

Artist: Ginger Johnson and His African Messengers

Label: Freestyle

Formats: CD, MP3, Vinyl

Release date: June 22, 2015

The reissue of Ginger Johnson and His African Messengers‘ 1967 album, African Party, tells you why Ginger Johnson was a key figure in the foundation of an African-influenced music style, later called Afrobeat. Starting with the opening track “I Jool Omo,” which highlights the combination of multi-layered percussion, jazz horn lines, and lyrics in a Yoruba dialect, this album clearly displays the sounds Ginger adopted during his career in London, such as traditional West African drums and Afro-Cuban style.

Born in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria in 1916, George Folunsho Johnson (nicknamed “Ginger”) was orphaned and raised by his older sister who reputedly introduced him to classical music as well as traditional African sounds. Joining the Nigerian navy at the age of 18, Ginger soon made his first trip to Britain. After the end of World War II, he settled in London and became an Afro-Cuban percussionist, quickly making a huge impact on the London music scene. From the late-1940s and onward, he performed and recorded with brilliant London-based artists, including British saxophone legend Ronnie Scott and the Edmundo Ross Orchestra. Not only famous as a percussionist of the jazz and Latin bands of the day, Ginger Johnson was also known as a vibrant host of African and Caribbean musicians, young Fela Kuti among them. It was during such a period of the heyday of African music in London that Ginger formed his own band, Ginger Johnson and His African Messengers, and recorded African Party. Following is the album trailer/mini documentary:

As heard in track 5, “Talking Drum,” each track in the album is prompted by lively rhythmical percussion of West-African and Caribbean origins. Yet, overlaid melodies of saxophones, trumpet, and flute provide the danceable elements of Afro-Cuban jazz.

Besides his role as a musician, Ginger was a music educator, TV personality, and owner of the Iroko Country Club in North London. It is also notable that he performed with renowned rock bands, including Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones. Now 40 years from his death in 1975, African Party is the first remastered reissue of Ginger’s recordings. This reissue will lead you to Ginger’s vital sound in the 1960s London, which was the precursor to Afrobeat.

Reviewed by Masatomo Yonezu

Manchester Free Trade Hall 1964

Posted on May 9, 2008 by aaamc

Title: Manchester Free Trade Hall 1964

Artist: Reverend Gary Davis

Label: Document

Catalog No.: DOCD 32-20-14

Date: 2007

In Reverend Gary Davis we had one of the best examples of a musician who carefully navigated the terrain between sacred and secular musics, causing intersections not often heard. In the newly released Manchester Free Trade Hall 1964 from Document Records, we hear Davis performing as part of the “Gospel and Blues Caravan” touring throughout Europe, on a night that captures an excellent showman in top form.

Though the image of a blind guitar player adheres more to blues mythology than gospel, Davis performs four gospel songs on his trademark Gibson Jumbo-200 with natural ease, as if they were intended for the acoustic guitar. One of his trademark songs, “If I Had My Way,” finds Davis shouting his praise while his tremendous finger picking runs up and down the fretboard, oscillating between stellar bass runs and high register licks responding to his vocal lines. “The Sun is Going Down” brings Davis’s long time friend Sonny Terry along on harmonica, and the two sound majestic together, every bit as tight as Terry’s work with Brownie McGhee. Equally impressive is Davis’s “Coon Hunt,” a harmonica instrumental based on Terry’s “Fox Chase,” which gives further evidence of Davis’s wide and varied musical ability.

To cap things off, Davis ends with Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag,” showcasing his ragtime finger picking chops. Davis complicates the standard repertoire of a bluesman, moving not only between sacred and secular songs, but also with a double dose of ragtime in “Maple Leaf Rag,” and the impressive instrumental “Cincinnati Flow Rag.” According to the liner notes penned by Bob Grooms, Davis also excelled at the piano and banjo, and based on the virtuosic display heard here, one longs to hear what he might have had to offer on those instruments.

The few drawbacks of the album have nothing to do with Davis, but with the remastering of the tracks, which are inexplicably inconsistent. Some sound intimate and clear while others sound like bootlegs made from the audience. The loud applause in between takes is disruptive in its length and volume. This is surprising from Document, which generally excels at remastering historical material. The liner notes are adequate but mostly a song-by-song explication as to where each fits within Davis’s larger performing repertoire, as well as some general history as to Davis’s activities in Europe in the 1960s. The photos are minimal and offer only two shots of Davis backstage, so one never gets a visual sense of Manchester Free Trade Hall. Nonetheless, none of this undermines the astounding performance given that May night in 1964, where it became quite obvious that American blues and gospel had become transnational musics.

Posted by Thomas Grant Richardson

Recapturing the Banjo

Posted on March 7, 2008 by aaamc

Title: Recapturing the Banjo

Artist: Otis Taylor

Label: Telarc

Catalog No.: 83667

Date: 2008

Colorado isn’t the first state you probably think of as a center for the blues. Perhaps that outsider status is what allows Otis Taylor to construct his own framework of the genre. Taylor, who currently resides in Boulder, has worked out of Colorado for years. Though he took a hiatus from music making in 1977 to deal in antiques, he began playing again in 1995 and released the acclaimed album Blue-Eyed Monster in 1997. Taylor’s style has never been orthodox, nor has it adhered to a site-specific sound such as Delta blues, Memphis blues, or Chicago blues, yet he’s incorporated elements of each in the past. His latest release, Recapturing the Banjo, maps similar outsider space, although this time it’s more historical than spatial.

Recapturing the Banjo is undoubtedly Taylor’s project, but more accurately he leads a dream team of contemporary blues musicians, each with strong affiliations to traditional forms. Guy Davis, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb’ Mo’, and Don Vappie all contribute substantially through combinations of picking, singing, and songwriting. The roster of musicians and their diverse contributions render the idea of a uniform “black” way to play the banjo dead on arrival.

The banjo has an uncomfortable but nonetheless essential role in African-American music, yet undoubtedly it has become more synonymous with white vernacular forms such as old-time and bluegrass music. The prototype came from West Africa on slave ships and evolved from such instruments as the xalam and akonting, reflecting such “melting-pot” concepts in its variations. Recapturing the Banjo showcases not only those variations of instrumentation but of playing styles, from Guy Davis’ percussive, thumb-heavy clawhammer on “Little Liza Jane,” to Don Vappie’s jazzy rhythms played on the tenor banjo in “Les Ognons.”

The song writing and selection reflect a frank and concerned role of African-American experiences. While Taylor’s own writing tends towards the dark side, including songs about a Klan lynching, “shot ’em down” ballads, and white indifference to black suffering, the disc also includes up-tempo songs such as Gus Cannon’s seminal “Walk Right In” (made famous by the all white, folk-pop, sans-banjo trio The Rooftop Singers), the Creole children’s song “Les Ognons,” and the brooding affirmation of Keb’ Mo’s “The Way It Goes.”

Though there is much to learn here (the liner notes are complete with a bibliography and discography providing a more detailed history of black banjo music), the sound and feel of the music is anything but academic. Taylor refuses to substitute pedagogy for groove, and the album cranks along with a blend of old-time rollicking tunes and swampy electric guitar blues accented by the ever-present banjo. Taylor’s iconoclastic style is on full display here and it’s a shame he isn’t better known outside of blues circles, since his taste is so wide-ranging, never solidly fitting into genre categories, but always negotiating between them.

Posted by Thomas Grant Richardson

Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia

Posted on March 7, 2008 by aaamc

Title: Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia

Artists: Various

Label: Smithsonian Folkways

Catalog No.: 40079

Date: 1998

Editor’s note: Smithsonian Folkways has received many requests from radio stations for re-servicing Black Banjo Songsters so they can pair it up with Otis Taylor’s CD on their respective radio shows. We thought we’d do the same, just in case you missed this CD when it was originally released back in 1998.

Otis Taylor’s recent release, Recapturing the Banjo, is not only an album, but a statement of musical lineage. And if the banjo is to be “recaptured,” it must be asked who is doing the recapturing: blues players or black players? The banjo has a clear history traceable to Africa via slaves in the American South back through the Middle Passage. Long before anyone heard the lighting-fast, three-finger picking of Earl Scruggs, black musicians had already developed styles of banjo playing quite different from Scruggs speedy arpeggios. There are more recordings of these early banjo styles than most casual listeners might suspect.

One of the seminal collections is the venerable Smithsonian Folkways 1998 release Black Banjo Songsters, which collects thirty-two recordings of banjo songs from North Carolina and Virginia. Most of these songs were recorded in the 1970s or later, and mostly by musicians in the waning years of life. This led to the common conclusion that banjo music in black communities was a dying art form. Whether or not the tradition was dying is irrelevant at this point, because it’s clearly not dead. If we were to allow the commercial recording industry to proclaim what is alive and what is dead, we’d be privy only to a thin slice of the various music that continues to thrive outside the umbrella of commercial acceptance. In many ways this is the principle that has led Smithsonian Folkways to its unparalled success.

The songs on Black Banjo Songsters are anything but commercial and would most likely be of little interest to those who are unaccustomed to the rough hewn sound of field recordings, where pitch correction and over-dubbing are foreign concepts. Black Banjo Songsters is something of an educational project, shedding light on the various aspects of black banjo stylings including percussive claw hammer style as well as the two-fingers, up-picking “complementing” style. The extensive liner notes by banjo scholar Cece Conway and Scott Odell detail the specifics of these different styles.

The collection gives credibility to the diversity of approaches by black players. Just as white players such as Roscoe Holcomb, Earl Scruggs and Bela Fleck found individual sounds with the instrument, familiar songs such as “Coo Coo,” “John Henry,” and “Old Corn Liquor” get individual treatment by lesser known players such as Dink Roberts, Odell Thompson, and John Snipes.

But the education aside, the music is rich and welcoming, showcasing first class talent, many of whom were never offered recording gigs because they didn’t play the one of two genres that fit neatly on “race records.” Most importantly, it reminds us of what is lost when the missing piece of the puzzle goes unnoticed for too long.

Reviewed by Thomas Grant Richardson

Honeydripper

Posted on December 7, 2007 by aaamc

Title: Honeydripper (feature film)
Writer, Director: John Sayles
Producer: Maggie Renzi

December traditionally brings a wave of new releases at the box office, and this year is no exception. One that I am particularly anxious to see is Honeydripper, a new film by John Sayles that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10 and is scheduled for limited release on December 28. Here’s the official synopsis:

“Iconoclastic filmmaker John Sayles, in his 16th feature film, continues his extraordinary examination of the complexities and shifting identities of American sub-cultures in the new film Honeydripper. With his usual understated intelligence, Sayles uses the rhythms of the citizens of Harmony, Alabama to immerse the audience into the world of the Jim Crow south. It’s a fable about the birth of rock n’ roll- a quintessentially American subject, but with a fidelity to time and temperament that is unusual in an American director.

It’s 1950 and it’s a make or break weekend for Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover), the proprietor of the Honeydripper Lounge. Deep in debt, Tyrone is desperate to bring back the crowds that used to come to his place. He decides to lay off his long-time blues singer Bertha Mae, and announces that he’s hired a famous guitar player, Guitar Sam, for a one night only gig in order to save the club.

Into town drifts Sonny Blake, a young man with nothing to his name but big dreams and the guitar case in his hand. Rejected by Tyrone when he applies to play at the Honeydripper, he is intercepted by the corrupt local Sheriff, arrested for vagrancy and rented out as an unpaid cotton picker to the highest bidder. But when Tyrone’s ace-in-the-hole fails to materialize at the train station, his desperation leads him back to Sonny and the strange, wire-dangling object in his guitar case. The Honeydripper lounge is all set to play its part in rock n’ roll history.”

Sayles’ has a fascination with the genesis of rock ‘n roll, and wanted to find a way to capture this pivital event in his film. “There was no single moment when R&B, blues, gospel, jazz, and country all came together to create this thing called rock ‘n roll,” he said, “but a big change came with the advent of the electric guitar. Before that, the piano ruled—it produced a lot more sound than a little acoustic guitar. Suddenly, a poor boy like Sonny (Gary Clark Jr.) could travel around with a portable, cheap, high-volume electric guitar and peel the paint off the walls.”

Here’s the trailer:

If this isn’t enough to entice you, then check out the all-star cast. Taking on the role of Sonny Blake in his movie debut is singer/guitarist and Texas native Gary Clark Jr. The incredibly talented Clark has been playing professionally since the age of fourteen (which I gather was not more then 7-8 years ago), was recently named Best Blues Artist at the Austin Music Awards, and has opened for the likes of Gatemouth Brown, Jimmie Vaughan, Bobby Bland and Joe Ely. Over the summer he’s been touring with the Honeydripper All-Star Band, and a clip of their 6/19/07 NYC performance was recently mounted on YouTube:

In the juicy role of Bertha Mae Spivey is none other than Dr. Mable John, the former Stax recording artist and onetime leader of the Raelettes (Ray Charles’ back-up group). Metalmouth Sims is played by Mississippi born harmonica player Arthur Lee Williams, who cut his teeth in Chicago and went on to play with Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Eddie Taylor. Blues guitarist Keb Mo, whose 2006 album Suitcase was a break out hit, also makes his film debut in the role of Possum. Tenor saxophonist Eddie Shaw, who has performed with Hound Dog Taylor, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf, also has a cameo role as Time Trenier.

Sayles also made good use of local talent, including members of the New Beginnings Ministry Choir in Greenville, Alabama. According to producer Maggie Renzi, “We asked New Beginnings to give us their best singers, and Wow! We couldn’t have duplicated that sound. The local people have the right accents, the looks—I had a crowd of extras, and after they got through with wardrobe and styling, I asked them to raise their hands if they looked just like old photos of their parents and grandparents. Every hand went up.”

WOW, indeed! I must remember to call the local theater and push to get this gem in the queue a.s.a.p. For more information, visit the film’s official website. As for Gary Clark Jr., his latest release, Tribute, is apparently only available via his website and CD Baby. I predict that will change mighty fast. A fourth CD is said to be in the works and will presumably be picked up by a major label.

Posted by Brenda Nelson-Strauss

The Story of Oscar Brown, Jr.

Posted on December 7, 2007 by aaamc

Title: Music is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown, Jr.
Director/Producer: donnie l. betts
Company: No Credits Production, Inc.

In early November 2007, the Black Film Center/Archive at Indiana University invited filmmaker donnie l. betts to campus to screen his award winning documentary Music is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown, Jr. The film, six years in the making, chronicles Brown’s entire life and career. It is not only a loving portrait and celebration of the man and his work, but also an honest depiction of his faults and failures.

Oscar Brown, Jr. was born in 1926 to college educated parents. His father was an influential lawyer in Chicago. Brown recounts how the sounds and songs he heard coming from the streets growing up in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago influenced his life, his politics, and his work. He was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a lawyer but once he started getting praise and attention for his singing and songwriting, he knew he would never become a lawyer. Brown saw his music and poems as a way to not only entertain, but to also comment on the good and the bad he saw in the world.

Brown’s performing career began at the age of 15 when he got a part in a radio series with Studs Terkel. He continued in radio before entering politics and working with the meat packing union in Chicago. After a brief stint in the Army, which is an interesting story, Brown tried selling real estate but he spent too much time writing. It was during this time he began writing the musical Kicks and Company. At the same time Brown was working on the musical, his first album Sin and Soul was released to positive reviews. The film examines the promise and ultimate failure of the musical in detail and includes audio from Brown’s appearance on the Today Show with Dave Garroway to raise money to stage the musical.

Despite the failure of Kicks and Company, Brown’s career continued to prosper and diversify. He began writing lyrics to jazz songs. He collaborated with Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach on a work that eventually became the “Freedom Now Suite” – another interesting, and for Brown, a disappointing episode in his life. In the late 1960s, Brown began working with members of the Blackstone Rangers, a gang from the South Side of Chicago, in an attempt to help get them away from a life of crime. Brown and the Rangers produced a musical review entitled Opportunity Please Knock and footage of their appearance on the Smothers Brothers television show is included in the film. One of the poignant moments in the film is when Brown runs into two former Rangers, now adults, on the street on the South Side of Chicago and they give an impromptu performance.

In the mid 1970s, Brown stopped recording because he felt the record business was more concerned about selling records than they were about the content of the records. He didn’t record again until the mid 1990s. During the 20 years he didn’t record, he continued to be an activist for various causes and continued to write poems, music, plays and musicals.

The documentary highlights Oscar Brown’s successes, his personal excesses – such as his marijuana use, and his failures. Brown was married three times and fathered six children. His children speak lovingly but honestly about their father. Another poignant moment in the film is when Brown and several family members talk about the death of his son, Oscar Brown III, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1996. It is apparent the death of Oscar Brown III, a talented musician himself, is still very painful for his father and family.

One of the strengths of the documentary is the footage, some archival and some contemporary, of Brown performing his poetry and music. The performance clips wonderfully illustrate Brown’s breadth of talent and the expanse of his work. Archival footage includes excerpts from performances of the “Work Song,” “But I Was Cool,” and “Dat Dere.” Excerpts from contemporary performances include “Watermelon Man,” “Forty Acres and a Mule,” “Woman,” and “Bid Em’ In.” The documentary ends with a powerful new performance by Brown of “Rags and Old Iron” in the alley behind the home where he grew up in Chicago.

Another strength of the documentary is the stories and commentary provided not only by Brown himself, but by his colleagues, collaborators, and admirers. Among those interviewed are Nichelle Nichols, an original cast member in Kicks and Company, Abbey Lincoln, Amiri Baraka, Studs Terkel, and Charles Wheldon. While the documentary adequately examines Brown’s work and his influence on his contemporaries, it would have been nice to hear from younger artists, especially rap and hip hop artists, who may have been influenced, knowingly and unknowingly, by Brown’s music, poetry, and activism.

There are some interesting “extras” included with the film. “The Final Act” includes performances of “Autumn Leaves” and “The Beach” along with footage of Brown’s family and friends at the hospital saying goodbye to him and reminiscing about him after he died on May 29, 2005. Another “extra” is footage of four “bootleg” performances. Unfortunately, the sound is not very good for these performances with the exception of “People of Soul” which was performed on The Tavis Smiley Show in February 2005. The last “extra” includes interview footage with Brown’s daughter Donna, Jean Pace Brown’s daughter Miko, and Ted Lange, who talks about his experience as one of the original performers in the musical Big Time Buck White.

Along with the film, which runs 1 hour and 50 minutes, there are two bonus CDs. One CD contains full length live versions of thirteen songs. Twelve of the songs are excerpted in the film. Unfortunately, “Dat Dere,” “Hazel’s Hips,” and “Mr. Kicks” are not included on the CD. The thirteenth song is “People of Soul” which Brown performed on The Tavis Smiley Show. The second CD contains contemporary full length versions of poems, some of which are not included in the film.

Music is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown, Jr. is a wonderful documentary. For those who have never heard of Oscar Brown, Jr., it is a great introduction to a remarkable artist. For those who already know of his work, it may be an opportunity to learn new things about the man and become reacquainted with his work. Regardless, the documentary gives recognition and documents the life of an artist who should be studied and remembered.

To purchase the three disc set, contact filmmaker donnie l. betts at: dlbetts@nocredits.com. For more information about the documentary, visit the official website.

Posted by Mary K. Huelsbeck (Archivist, Black Film Center/Archive, Indiana University)

Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost

Posted on December 7, 2007 by aaamc

Title: Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost
Producer: Todd Kwait
Company: Ezzie Films in association with Nevessa Production
Date: 2007

Last week I had the opportunity to preview a fabulous new documentary film, Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost, which traces the African American roots of jug band music. Mark Blackwell, a member of the Lost Shoe String Band who happens to have a day job at the Monroe County Public Library in Bloomington, Indiana, had heard about the documentary and arranged for a special showing. Also present was Todd Kwait, the Cleveland lawyer and businessman who conceived the idea about six years ago, and went on to write, direct and produce the film. Here’s the synopsis from the official website:

“Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost is a documentary film on the history of Jug Band Music. It traces the roots of American music beginning with Gus Cannon and Cannon’s Jug Stompers, The Memphis Jug Band and the Dixieland Jug Blowers from the 1920’s, and weaves a tapestry through interviews, live performances, archival footage, and photographs showing their influence on the ever-popular folk and rock movements of the 1960s.

The movie is written and directed by independent filmmaker Todd Kwait, and includes interviews and live performances by John Sebastian from the Lovin’ Spoonful, Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur, Bill Keith, Maria Muldaur, and the late Fritz Richmond from the influential Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead, Charlie Musselwhite, Paul Rishell and Annie Raines, plus many more artists who were influenced by the great jug band musicians from our past.

This movie is a historical retrospective that spans the globe and honors many great talents from yesterday and today. Filming for Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost took the crew to Japan, Sweden, and Kingston, Ontario. Closer to home, filming took place in Northern California; Woodstock, New York; Portland, Oregon; Memphis and western Tennessee; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Louisville, Kentucky; and Cleveland, Ohio.”

The opening clip on the trailer begins, appropriately enough, with a handcranked phonograph playing a 78 rpm record of “Viola Lee Blues” by Cannon’s Jug Stompers, written by band member Noah Lewis and recorded for the Victor label ca. 1929. This song actually served as the catalyst for Kwait’s journey into the history of jug band music.

Kwait was a huge fan of John Sebastian, leader of the ‘60s folk-rock band the Lovin’ Spoonful. Sebastian had actually started his career in the Even Dozen Jug Band during the peak of the folk revival scene. Those of you familiar with the Lovin’ Spoonful’s hit song from 1965, “Do You Believe in Magic,” might recall this reference in the second verse: “If you believe in magic, don’t bother to choose/ If it’s jug band music or rhythm and blues.” Obviously old time music was Sebastian’s first love, and in the late ‘90s he formed John Sebastian and the J Band. Their 1999 album Chasin’ Gus Ghost featured an arrangement of “Viola Lee Blues,” along with several other Gus Cannon and Noah Lewis songs (and obviously inspired the title of this film).

After attending a performance of the J Band in the late ‘90s, Kwait realized that he knew next to nothing about jug band music. Further exploration revealed that the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia had performed as Mother McCree and the Uptown Jug Band Champions in 1964, which eventually morphed into the Grateful Dead. As any Deadhead is sure to know, “Viola Lee Blues” was also performed extensively by the Grateful Dead between 1966-70. Kwait began to wonder, just what is this jug band music, and where did it come from? Not finding the answers readily available, he began his six year quest.

Through the assistance of John Sebastian, Bob Weir, Charlie Musselwhite, Geoff Muldaur, historian Samuel Charters, and especially Fritz Richmond (a member of the seminal Jim Kweskin Jug Band), the history of jug band music has now been explored for the first time on film. Though much time is spent chronicling the revival of jug band music by white artists in the 1960s, as well as contemporary performances in both the U.S. and Japan (the Japanese jug bands are hysterically funny), its African American origins are certainly not overlooked.

Many believe that jug band music originated around 1900 in Louisville, Kentucky, where whisky jugs were plentiful due to the community’s long association with bourbon. One of the more famous groups was the Louisville Jug Band, led by Earl McDonald. In 1903 they performed at the Kentucky Derby, setting off a tradition that lasted into the 1940s. Soon jug bands were “serenading steamboat passengers up and down the Ohio River,” and by the 1920s “jug bands were entertaining theater and dance crowds in major cities east of the Mississippi. Check out this amazing historical footage of Whistler’s Jug Band performing in Louisville around 1930 (posted by permission of Shanachie, from the the Yazoo DVD Times Ain’t Like They Used To Be: Early Rural & Popular Music From Rare original Film Master, 1928-35).[i]

Another place where the music took hold was Memphis, Tennessee, where the jug bands were more firmly rooted in country blues and earlier African-American traditions. The two most celebrated Memphis groups were Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers and Will Shade’s Memphis Jug Band, but it is Cannon who was most revered by the sixties folk musicians and who receives most of the attention in the film, due to his extraordinary technique on the banjo and jug, which he fastened around his neck like a racked harmonica. Interestingly, the first half of the film features Taj Mahal as the voice of Gus Cannon (Cannon himself died in 1979 at the age of 104). According to Kwait, Taj’s narration is based on actual Cannon quotes, lending a degree of authenticity to the scenes. Also profiled is band member Noah Lewis. Reverently called “the Robert Johnson of harp players” by Bob Weir, Lewis was known for his ability to play two harmonicas at once, using both mouth and nose.

Between 1927-1930, Cannon’s Jug Stompers recorded 24 songs for Victor (several were penned by Lewis), featuring some of the best jug band music ever released. Notable tracks include “Minglewood Blues” (covered by both the Grateful Dead and Sebastian’s J Band), “Viola Lee Blues,” “Mule Get Up in the Alley,” and “Walk Right In.” The latter was a huge hit for the Rooftop Singers in 1963, which led to Cannon’s rediscovery by Sam Charters. Stax arranged a recording session for the 79-year-old Cannon in 1963 (he was living in the neighborhood at the time), and amazingly Will Shade and Milton Roby were still around to back him on jug and washboard, respectively. Only 500 copies of the LP were pressed by Stax under the title Walk Right In, but it has since been reissued by Fantasy on CD.

Towards the end of the film, after considerable focus on Sebastian and the appropriation of jug band music by white folk musicians and Japanese enthusiasts, I began to wonder if any African American groups were participating in the revival of the tradition. Kwait obviously anticipated this question, for almost immediately the focus of the film shifted to the Sankofa Strings (otherwise known as the Carolina Chocolate Drops, featured in the Oct. 2006 issue of Black Grooves). Sule Greg Wilson, Sankofa’s spokeman, explained that most African American musicians consider jug band music to be too old fashioned, too pre-blues, and too connected to the days of medicine and minstrel shows. But the Sankofa Strings/Carolina Chocolate Drops are doing much to promote this distinctive African American music genre, and are seen in the film teaching school kids to play the washboard and other jug band instruments. I look forward to future CD releases by this group, and am excited that immediately following the film people were already talking about bringing the Chocolate Drops to town.

Kwait is still looking for a distributer for the film, so don’t expect a DVD release anytime soon. If you’re lucky you might be able to catch Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost at a film festival or arrange for a local screening. The official world premiere was October 13^th, 2007, at the Woodstock Film Festival, though there seems to have been an August preview at the Jug Band Extravaganza in San Francisco, and a January screening is scheduled at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. It’s a great documentary, all the more amazing since it represents Kwait’s first foray into film making. I encourage everyone to get the word out- let’s get this film into distribution!

Related Discography:
Cannon’s Jug Stompers: The Complete Works: 1927-1930 (Yazoo 1989)

Memphis Jug Band with Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers (JSP 2005, 4 CD box set)

Walk Right In, Gus Cannon (Stax 1963; Fantasy reissue 1999)

Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost, John Sebastian And The J-Band (1999 Hollywood Records). Features Yank Rachell, one of the original jug band pioneers and master of the bluegrass mandolin, who performed frequently throughout southern Indiana prior to his death in Indianapolis in 1997.

[i] National Jug Band Jubilee website. Until the recent establishment of the annual National Jug Band Jubilee, Louisville had all but forgotten its role in the jug band tradition.

Posted by Brenda Nelson-Strauss